Police raid a gay bar in Texas on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
Police raid a gay bar in Texas on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday, police raided a gay bar in Fort Worth, TX, and arrested seven customers for public intoxication. (One man was reportedly taken to the hospital “with bleeding in his brain after officers threw him to the ground and used zip-ties to handcuff him.”) Police said they were simply conducting an “alcohol beverage code inspection” when several customers made sexual advances toward the officers. However, the owner of the Rainbow Lounge, J.R. Schrock, said that claim was a “lie.” “The groping of the police officer — really? We’re gay, but we’re not dumb,” Schrock said. Todd Camp, the founder of Q Cinema and former reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was at the Rainbow Lounge when the police showed up:
“I have friends who are cops and I know what to do when officers are working,” Camp said. “No one was acting aggressive to officers.”
Camp said that he has been attending bars for years in Fort Worth when TABC conducts raids.
“Usually, they’re very orderly and respectful –- they work with the bar staff and check IDs, it’s quick and painless and then it’s over and then they’re out,” Camp said. “This was not that. This was harassment, plain and simple.“
The Rainbow Lounge incident came on the 40th anniversary of the famous Stonewall uprising that sparked the modern LGBT movement, when police also raided a gay bar in New York City. Today, protesters rallied in downtown Forth Worth over the weekend’s raid. (HT: Pam’s House Blend)
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How nice, cops in Texas sound like as*hole Presidents who live in their state.
Freedom, isn’t it great???
June 29th, 2009 at 1:31 pmSoak up the compassionate conservatism….
June 29th, 2009 at 1:35 pmHow is it illegal to be drunk in a bar?
June 29th, 2009 at 1:35 pmWhy should anyone be surprised by the actions of the Dallas police officers? Or why would anyone be surprised by their lying to cover it up? It is Dallas, Texas afterall: you know, the place where one of the biggest lies and cover-ups ever perpetrated on the American people took place. Texas isn’t a place it is a state of mind and we are all the lesser for it.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:36 pmInteresting. Making a pass at a cop in Texas is punishable by immediate beating.
Saves court costs?
June 29th, 2009 at 1:36 pmno joking about this. bleeding in his brain – my god. what kind of f’d up state is texas? reported incidents of police brutality only seem to be on the rise. if these officers can hide behind an alcohol code buest to knock one’s head to the ground there is no such thing as “to protect and serve.”
June 29th, 2009 at 1:37 pmRob Says:
——————————————————————————–
How is it illegal to be drunk in a bar?
No, they made a pass at the cops so that was their justification to beat the sh*t out them. I wish Ron White would be interviewed on this issue, he’s a Texan I like who would speak his mind on the scum bag cops.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:38 pmPhoto caption:
Local Fort Worth, TX policeman Jethro Earl Butts gets on his knees for his turn at The Glory Hole while celebrating Gay Pride Day with his fellow Texans.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:39 pmSounds like the great gobofspit forgot to put the shorts on under his cheerleading skirt.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:39 pmI mean… How is it legal for cops to be in there in the first place?
June 29th, 2009 at 1:44 pmTexas cops? Raiding a gay bar? Half a decade after the Supreme Court ruled gay sex is perfectly legal? In a case that originated in their state?
No one could have predicted!
June 29th, 2009 at 1:49 pmI can imagine the scene in the police station before the raid:
Whooooweeeee, boys!! We’s gonna go roust us some o’ them queerboys!!
*spit* Redneck cops.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:51 pmI mean… How is it legal for cops to be in there in the first place?
police officers routinely go into bars to conduct id checks and make sure no minors are drinking on the premises in many states.
its not at all unusual
throwing a suspect to the ground and handcuffing them during one of these instances is however very unusual
police are given too much power in our country, they should be held accountable for the violence they perpetrate.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:52 pmIsn’t it amazing that the police have the time and resources to waste on this BS, rather than working on real crimes.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:54 pmI hope that the bar had security cameras installed. They probably don’t, but it would be nice to see what the cops really did.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:54 pmthat is messed up… I hope that guy is ok.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pmLet’s hope some of these jerks lose their jobs over this.
Quickly.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:56 pmYou know what, I feel sorry for any progressives who live in Texas. I would nevr want to live there. In fact, you couldn’t pay me to live in a Red State.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:01 pmDr. Hussein Matt Says:
Several years ago Texas passed a law where you could be arrested for being drunk in a bar.
June 29th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
____________
Seriously? That’s ridiculous.
I thought it was a capital offense in Texas NOT to be intoxicated.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:02 pmKeep in mind, this is the state that thinks treason (secession) is cool.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:02 pmDon’t these officers have anything better to do? I mean, it’s Texas! You got all kinds of drunken idiots running around down there and they are probably armed to their teeth. As for the cops claim they were being harrassed, Really? If anybody believs that, they’re morons. But hey! It’s Texas!
June 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pmIt just goes to show you that the best things to come out of Texas are I-20 East and I-10 West
June 29th, 2009 at 2:09 pmExactly… where the former President/Governor/Chimp got a DUI
June 29th, 2009 at 2:11 pmOh, God. This is an illustration of so many ills in our society, it’s hard to know where to start. This could be the subject of a book. There is something really wrong with the relationship between citizens and police in this country. Really wrong.
Before I left Texas in ‘93, when I was living in Austin and clubbing regularly the ATF was cracking down on I.D.s in ways that defied all adult comprehension. A man who was a regular in a club I frequented was arrested for not having his I.D. while he was in this club celebrating his 60th birthday. The bartender knew him. Half the people in the club knew him. He could not possible be a minor. Yet he could be self-evident, and no one was granted the power to vouch for him. This is sick, predatory policing that serves no one but the police and politicians. I know it’s a little iffy when people are in their twenties, but the man was sixty years old, and a Navy veteran who had served on a nuclear submarine loaded with nuclear missiles when he was young. What does it take to be a self-made man?
Fort Worth is a wretched town—redneck, hard, and mean. Looks like the Fort Worth police are becoming as corrupt and violent as the Dallas and Houston police. There is no reason to use violence for any other purpose than to stop violence. Then, only as much force as is necessary should be used to restrain an offending person.
And if cops are having problems dealing with their irrational fears and hatreds of any category of people, they need to be rehabilitated or washed out of the police force. Period. No one should have to kiss a cop’s ass for anything. They are here to serve US. We PAY them to do that. There are plenty of people looking for work. Many of them are educated, responsible, mature adults.
Public intoxication is not a crime against anyone. When enforcing policies, the police need to be respectful and polite, at all times.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pmcould not be self evident
June 29th, 2009 at 2:23 pmWas Mount Rushblow one of the bar patrons?
Oh wait, they don’t allow little boys in bars, even in Texas.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:24 pmChief Wiggam was quoted as saying
Well boys, time to get some donuts for a job well done!
Assklowns…
June 29th, 2009 at 2:31 pmWhy is it that Where ever Bush is everything is fcked up.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:32 pmAnd reeks of sulfur.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:37 pmP.D. Says:
Don’t these officers have anything better to do? I mean, it’s Texas! You got all kinds of drunken idiots running around down there and they are probably armed to their teeth. As for the cops claim they were being harrassed, Really? If anybody believs that, they’re morons. But hey! It’s Texas!
And that is why they are harassing gays. Chances are, the gays in the bar are not armed. What better way of showing how powerful you are by harassing unarmed people.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:43 pmAnyone who doesn’t believe that this was not pure, unwarranted harrassment is too stupid for words.
This is Texas where they drag black men from the back of pick ups trucks, where they are homophobic to the point of hysteria, where the politicians they elect are the likes of Tom Delay and George Bush and Rick Perry. Where cops swagger like B-movie cowboys, where their colleges feature football over academics, cheerleading over education, and their women are obsessed with hair and makeup.
June 29th, 2009 at 2:52 pmHouston is one ugly place to be. Aren’t they going to secede or something?
June 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pmShortly after midnight on Sunday, police raided a gay bar in Fort Worth, TX, and arrested seven customers for public intoxication.
So now people can’t drink in a bar? Or it’s okey if they use burkas?
June 29th, 2009 at 2:54 pmI wonder how many of the responding officers were “christian” repugnicans?
June 29th, 2009 at 3:01 pmIt is asinine for this to be happening anywhere in America in this day and age. So here is the information on the police department. If this story upsets you please call them and let them know that we find this unacceptable in this country. Flood their mailbox and snail mail with complaints (not threats, that should go without saying but some people’s emotions are running high about this). Whether you be LGBT or just a supporter of equal rights like myself let them know that this behavior is appalling and there is no room for it in today’s world.
Jeffrey Halstead
Chief of Police
fwpdweb@fortworthpd.com
Police Administration (817)392-4200
Media Contact
(Sgt. Criado) (817)392-4214
Internal Affairs
(complaints on officers)(817)392-4270
350 W. Belknap St.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:01 pmFort Worth, TX 76102
Texas logic…”Several years ago Texas passed a law where you could be arrested for being drunk in a bar.”
But it’s legal to carry a weapon in a bar.
Texas is hazardous to your health.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:16 pmMaybe the police should raid churches around the country and arrest all the priests that like to molest little boys.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:21 pmYou conservative rightwingnut religous freaks are fcking hypocrits.
Public intoxication, at a bar???
Wow. Didn’t see that one coming.
What’s next?
Public reading in a library?
June 29th, 2009 at 3:51 pmPublic viewing at a movie?
Public swimming at a beach?
The assault against reason is more than just a book written by Al Gore.
June 29th, 2009 at 3:59 pmSo in Texas it is illegal to be drunk in a bar and to grope someone. I bet chicks in Texas will be glad to know they can call the police the next time a Creepy McGroper feels them up in a bar.
Oh, my bad, it is only illegal in a gay bar.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:00 pmTexas. That says it all right there.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:03 pmThe police wanted any reason to go into that bar and attack its’ patrons. The “they made advances” statement is for CYA purposes.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pmYou sure that they were cops, they could have been Minutemen, using the raid to further advance their agenda.
RIP
June 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul, Iraq
From TPM Muckraker:
Police use violence to raid a Democratic Congressional candidate’s fundraiser being held by a gay couple.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
This isn’t limited to Texas, by a long shot. In Florida, teachers are calling the police over conflicts with children. Police are going to the schools and tazing our children.
Too much is dreadfully wrong with policing in this country. Any adult should be reasonably expected to resolve most conflict without resorting to violence. Violations of policy and etiquette are being treated as if they were crimes that threaten the very fabric of society. And still it is incredibly difficult to convict a serial rapist.
BULLSH!T! It’s that Dicky-Twatwaffle geistegeshicte (sp?) that reached full pitch under the Bush Administration. The inmates really believe that they’re running the asylum. ENOUGH! with this 18% and their pernicious influence in all the institutions that shape our society. These people need professional help, so that the people who are Being Properly Mortified can stop wasting their time with anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and sedatives.
June 29th, 2009 at 4:29 pmFolks, lets not denigrate an entire Police Department, an entire city, or an entire state. Does Texas have its baggage? Yes, but other states do as well. Do cops have a bad reputation? Yes, but not all of them believe in vigilante justice. I lived in Fort Worth for years and had many gay friends, including gay friends who were friends with members of the Fort Worth P.D.. Despite some of the comments made above, Fort Worth is not all rednecks and hatred, and neither is Texas. Are there rednecks in Fort Worth? Absolutely. There are rednecks in California and other “progressive” places too. Similarly, hatred knows no geographic or political bounds. Just asking for others to have patience and wait for the facts of a story to come out, as well as have some of the tolerance we are admonishing others for not having. Violence and vigilantism have no place anywhere, but this is supposed to be America, where people are allowed to have their opinions, no matter how repugnant those opinions may be to the rest of us. Don’t let the actions of a few potentially bad apples spoil the reputations of the rest.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:25 pmJMac Says:
Folks, lets not denigrate an entire Police Department, an entire city, or an entire state.
And until the police departments prevent these type of events from happening (this could not have been just a few rogue cops, this was a planned event), and individual police officers denounce these types of actions, then the entire police force should be branded as red neck bigots.
Anything less is just an excuse for bad behavior.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:42 pmoh so they’re going to use the gay panic defense? I thought that was discredited so long time ago…
June 29th, 2009 at 5:52 pmThe raid itself was planned, no doubt about that. Texas is always cracking down way too much on bars and consumption. That’s why folks have to be publicly intoxicated in Texas, everywhere else is unsafe to drink.
However, I’m guessing someone at the shift briefing at the police station did not hand out assignments to go beat the crap out of some gay men and women in retaliation for the double sins of being gay and having pride. Now, if there’s no discipline handed down to these officers, that’s another story. I do believe that officers assaulting individuals because they feel threatnened . . . . sexually — is still a crime in Texas, and fellow officers should step over that storied blue line in cases such as these.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:55 pmMac Says:
However, I’m guessing someone at the shift briefing at the police station did not hand out assignments to go beat the crap out of some gay men and women in retaliation for the double sins of being gay and having pride.
They don’t have to. It is is implied by tone of voice when giving out assignments and when talking to other officers. I’ll bet my next paycheck that there were more than a few comments about faggots or a few catcalls when the assignment was announced. I know enough cops to know that happens all too often.
I do believe that officers assaulting individuals because they feel threatnened . . . . sexually — is still a crime in Texas, and fellow officers should step over that storied blue line in cases such as these.
In their mind the people they arrested and beat are “just faggots” what do they care. The commanders of the Fort Worth police are not going to put their “manhood” at risk by disciplining these cops. That would make them look like “pansy liberals” and they wouldn’t want that.
Maybe if there is a large enough civil rights lawsuit then maybe there might be a slap on the wrist, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for anything more. If anything, they have probably already been told what a great job they did in putting those flaming queers in their place.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:38 pmI hope that THINK PROGRESS will actively update information on this situation.
The Fort Worth Chief of Police should be publicly identified on this blog, along with the head of the Vice Squad.
Invite your readers to contribute any pertinent information about these persons in the Police Department and any previous homophobic actions and statements.
I would bet my bottom dollar that the cops who directed these raids are repiggie evangelicals. Their “religious” bigotry is at the heart of these raids.
Evangelicalism is the fastest growing mental illness in this nation.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:15 pmJMac Says:
Folks, lets not denigrate an entire Police Department, an entire city, or an entire state. Does Texas have its baggage? Yes, but other states do as well. Do cops have a bad reputation? Yes, but not all of them believe in vigilante justice.
I think denigrating the whole department is appropriate in this case. There is no reason for them to go into these bars unless they are called by the owners or the police suspect sales of liquor to minors or public sex acts. These type of raids haven’t been done in most major cities since the 1970’s. The purpose of the raid was to hassle the patrons and the excuse of intoxicated patrons was merely a pretense for the police to make a raid at midnight. This shows that the raid was well planned rather than a spontaneous event.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:19 pmI spent 10 years of my miserable childhood in Fort Worth, and I’ll say any damned thing I like about it.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:21 pmThe religious bigotries of the Fort Worth Police Vice Squad are at the heart of these raids.
Those imbecile cops get all whipped up at the dingaling megachurches they attend.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:40 pmYou’re all being far too negative.
This incident illustrates that Texas is only 40 years behind civilized opinion, not 100 as we had believed.
June 29th, 2009 at 8:37 pmI wouldn’t take the word of an officer who was doing anything in an official capacity in a gay bar. Most are homophobic pricks that want to show just how big of a man they are by beating up on the “queers”.
Frankly the only way I take the word of a police officer is if there is video evidence to back up what he says. Otherwise I’ll take the word of bystanders any day.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pmCops busting on people for not having sex in the approved way? So much for land of the free.
From recent news and comment it sounds like Ft Worth may be following up on this. Hopefully that will actually be the case.
The idea of having police go into bars looking for drunks at 1 AM also sounds pretty stupid. If you can’t get drunk in a bar…?
June 29th, 2009 at 11:26 pmGhosewalker
June 30th, 2009 at 10:24 amWhat special rights are these “homos” looking for? Lived and still live in Greenwich Village the last 37 years of my life and have been told by a few gay friends I’m cute but never has anyone ever come on to me.
I would take the word of a cockaroach before that of a cop especially a Texas cop.
Ghost Walker373
Probably uncalled for?
Are you retarded? The man was hospitalized for bleeding into his brain. Would you 90 year old granny have done that to the “drunken homo” you bigoted bastard?
June 30th, 2009 at 1:41 pmFt. Worth, a.k.a. Cow-Town.
Where the women are ugly, and the sheep are scared.
Perhaps F-town, short for Fascist Town would be a more appropriate handle.
June 30th, 2009 at 1:45 pm